Unbroken Circle
by Jezrana
Summary: The history of Tom Riddle, the friends he had at Hogwarts, and how he became Lord Voldemort, which unveils links to both Harry Potter and the Merlin sisters, and...there's just too much for me to sum up here...just read. And review.
1. Prologue

Question: What does Jez do when she's just gotten out of school for the summer, and should be updating her existing Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings fanfics?  
  
Answer: SHE STARTS A TOTALLY NEW FANFIC!! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!  
  
Oh yes. I feel evil. Which is probably a good thing, since I'll be writing with Tom in this story...you know you want to read it...go on...  
  
Anyway, this, Remembrance, and another story I haven't really started yet, are eventually going to connect, because the details of Voldemort's history revealed here will be veeeeery important in the others. So read.  
  
And I WILL write more of Remembrance. Eventually. Heck, I might even finish it one of these days.  
  
Unbroken Circle  
  
Prologue  
  
Time: Roughly 60 years before the events of the Harry Potter series.  
  
"There's nothing more you can do for her, doctor?"  
  
"Nothing-the only thing I could do now would be to give her morphine, but she insists she wants to see her children and name them before she dies."  
  
"She knows she's dying, then?"  
  
"Yes...it's strange. I would expect her to be delirious, barely conscious. But she seems strangely lucid, and she's clinging to life with amazing tenacity."  
  
A soft voice from the bed interrupted the hushed conversation.  
  
"Where are my babies? I want-I want to see them. Name them. All I can give them is their names, and the gifts I have for them. You must let me-"  
  
One of the nurses hurried over to the bedside. "Shh-you mustn't strain yourself, love. The babies are right here, in the next bed. Here, I'll lift you up so you can see them."  
  
The three babies lay side by side on the bed, wrapped in blankets. The bigger, stronger girl-the firstborn-was crying heartily, but the boy was gazing around the room with a calm, wondering look, and the other girl-the youngest and weakest of the infants-was fast asleep.  
  
The dying woman struggled to focus her eyes on the children, then smiled. "My babies. My beautiful little ones." She stretched out a trembling hand to point to each of them. "The stronger girl is Morella. You must give her my rings-the emerald ring on the chain around my neck, and my wedding band. The smaller girl...she is Elaina. And because she will be the weakest, you must give her this"-her hand fell on the wooden rod at her side, which she had clutched tightly during labor and refused to let them take, "-my wand. The most powerful gift I can give her."  
  
"Perhaps the poor girl is a bit delirious." the doctor muttered to the second nurse. "She insists that's a magic wand. Even told me she was a witch."  
  
The woman seemed to hear him, for she clutched at the first nurse's arm. "You must give her the wand! Promise me! I know you don't understand...but promise me...please..." she broke off in a sudden spasm of pain.  
  
The nurse patted her hand. "Alright, dear, alright. I promise."  
  
The woman relaxed, but her breathing was now shallow and ragged. "And...my son. His name is...listen carefully...his name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. Marvolo was my father, and their father is Tom Riddle. My son must have his name, and the picture of Tom I have, so that someday my children will be able to find their father. He didn't want me...but surely, when he sees his beautiful children, he will want them and love them."  
  
She lay back in the bed, struggling for breath. "Those are their names...Morella...Elaina...and Tom Riddle..." Her soft voice trailed off, her eyes closed, and finally her hand, still clutching the nurse's sleeve, went limp.  
  
*****  
  
Five Months Later  
  
"Home have been found for each of the girls, but the boy...I suppose he'll have to stay in the orphanage for the time being."  
  
"You never found the father, sir? This...Tom Riddle fellow?"  
  
"I did, actually...he denied all knowledge of these children or their mother, and when I suggested he come to the orphanage to see them-their resemblance to him is remarkable-he flat-out refused."  
  
"That's a shame...those poor babes. And it's even more of a shame that they'll be split up."  
  
"I know, it's always sad when siblings are separated. But the girls deserve to grow up in good homes, and if splitting them up is the only way that will happen, that's how it will have to be."  
  
"I suppose...but I do hope they'll be alright away from each other."  
  
"So do I, nurse...so do I."  
  
Morella Riddle was adopted later that same day by the Lianne family, who moved to France later that year when Mr. Lianne, a politician, was appointed to the embassy there. Morella would not see her homeland or her siblings again until she was thirteen.  
  
Elaina Riddle was taken home later that week by the Conahagns, who, by coincidence or fate, were a wizarding family. They recognized Elaina as a witch's child as soon as they saw the wand tucked into her blankets, put there by a nurse who, while not superstitious enough to believe in witches or magic wands, was not about to break a promise made to a woman on her deathbed.  
  
And Tom Riddle sat in a nurse's lap and watched, crying silently, as his sisters were taken to their new homes, leaving him alone in a Muggle orphanage for the next eleven years.  
  
A.N: So? (bounces up and down excitedly) What'd you think? Good? Bad? Quit screwing around with Tom and go write more Sirius/Alexandra and/or Remus/Celina melodrama? 


	2. Chapter One

Author's Note: After writing and posting the beginning of this chapter a while back, I finally got around to finishing it. Here ya go!  
  
Chapter One  
  
Time: Ten years later  
  
Ten years-close to eleven-had passed since the babies had last been together at the orphanage. And for ten years, Tom Riddle had lived in that orphanage, silently hating it and always knowing, with absolute conviction, that he deserved and would someday achieve better than this.  
  
He ran away for the first time when he was seven. Didn't get far-his nerve failed him and he was back at the orphanage before they realized he'd gone. In the three attempts he'd made since then, it had always been aching feet and an empty stomach that betrayed him. In the end, when the cold and the dark and the hunger got to be too much for Tom, he had nowhere to go, nowhere to return to, but the orphanage.  
  
But this time it would be different. He was ten, he was clever, he'd made it all the way to London, and this time, he was not going back. He was also, however, exhausted and sore from the trip, and walked with his head down through the dusty London streets. His silky black hair, which had grown almost chin-length since the last time they'd given him a haircut, hung down in front of his face, obscuring his sharp emerald eyes. And perhaps it was simply this ordinary reason that he bumped into the girl on the street. Or perhaps it was because she was gazing up at the cloudy sky, not watching where she was going. Or perhaps, as many who know this story believe, it was something more than chance that caused their collision.  
  
In any case, they both stumbled and fell, the girl's parcels tumbling from her arms and scattering about them. Still looking down, Tom began to mutter an apology and help gather up the boxes she had been carrying, while she, after a surprised "Oh!", began to assure him it was alright. Then they both looked up, and the words died on their lips as they stared at one another with undisguised shock and wonder.  
  
Tom could have been looking at a female version of himself. Her hair was long, clean and brushed, and clipped back with a pretty barrette, and her face was a little less thin than his, but aside from that they were mirror images of each other.  
  
"Who-who are you?" she stammered after a few seconds.  
  
"Tom Riddle." he replied in the same wondering tone. "Who're you?"  
  
"Elaina Conahagn." She paused, blinked a few times as if to assure herself he was really there, then tried to think of questions to help her figure out who he was and why..."Do-d'you live in London?"  
  
"No...I came from an orphanage in a village a couple of miles from here. I ran away..."  
  
Something sparked in her emerald eyes. "An orphanage?"  
  
He nodded. "Why?"  
  
She paused, brows furrowing, then looked up to meet his eyes again. "I'm adopted."  
  
His eyes widened in surprise. "You don't think...?"  
  
"Well, it seems a little farfetched, but...what else could explain this?"  
  
********  
  
"Why didn't you ever tell me I had a brother?!"  
  
"Sweetheart, we're just as surprised by this as you are-"  
  
"We didn't know, Laney."  
  
Elaina leaned against the polished oak surface of the table, still fixing her adoptive parents with an unforgiving emerald glare. "How exactly did you not know something like this?"  
  
Her father reached across the table, touching her hand. "We never knew because no one at the orphanage ever told us. We told them that we were interested in adopting one baby girl. So they described the infant girls that were there, we chose some to look at, and from those we found you."  
  
"They never said anything about you having a brother..." her mother interjected, "we thought you were an only child."  
  
Elaina studied her hands for a moment, mulling things over. She was still angry at the thought of Tom-of her brother, her twin brother-spending ten years alone in an orphanage while she grew up in a comfortable, happy home. But if her parents were telling her the truth-and she couldn't believe they wouldn't be-it wasn't their fault. The orphanage administration? She knew that siblings left in orphanages often got split up if no families would take them together, but had they even tried to keep her and Tom together, or just handed her off at the first opportunity?  
  
A sudden realization hit her. "Do you think Tom's a wizard?"  
  
Her parents exchanged a glance, then her father shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. We don't know if your parents were Muggles or wizards-Tom could be a normal Muggle, or if your parents were wizards, he might be a squib."  
  
"If he has magic in him, it'll probably be showing by now." Her mother pointed out. "You're starting Hogwarts this fall, Laney...if this Tom shows any signs of magic ability, they'll find out one way or another, and send him a letter."  
  
******  
  
As Elaina confronted her parents, Tom had returned to the orphanage, bursting into the administrative offices, and angrily demanding to know why he'd never been told he had a sister. In the following weeks, they communicated through letters and met again in London several times, making up for ten years of estrangement and forming a close friendship.  
  
During this time, Elaina often wanted to tell Tom about their wizarding heritage, find out if he had any magic talent, but didn't know how or where to begin. What if he didn't believe her, and they ended up at odds after being apart for so long? Or what if he was a squib, and her telling him about the wizarding world only built up hopes that would be crushed when he failed to develop any abilities? Elaina didn't know what to say, and so she said nothing.  
  
But all that changed-everything changed-the day Tom woke up to find an owl with a letter in its beak tapping at his window.  
  
A.N.-Aww...little Tommykins, off to learn magic and become the embodiment of pure evil... *sniffles*  
  
Next Time: Sorting hats, new friends, and the obligatory prophecy, complete with liberal amounts of foreshadowing! Yaaaaay! 


End file.
